Virtual Medical Assistant Methods and Apparatus

2. The host device of claim 1, wherein the free-form speech instruction is processed by the natural language understanding component to identify information expressed in the free-form speech instruction indicating an intent to perform the at least one medical task.

3. The host device of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain an identification of at least one impediment to performing the at least one medical task, and wherein the at least one query is provided to the medical professional using the dialog component to facilitate overcoming the at least one impediment.

4. The host device of claim 3, wherein the identified at least one impediment includes one or more impediments selected from a group consisting of: an identification of information missing from the free-form speech instruction needed to perform the at least one medical task, at least one ambiguity in connection with performing the at least one medical task, an inability to identify the at least one medical task with sufficient certainty, and one or more conflicts in connection with performing the at least one medical task.

5. The host device of claim 1, wherein the at least one medical task identified from the free-form speech instruction includes a request to order an orderable item.

6. The host device of claim 5, wherein the identified request to order the orderable item includes an order selected from the group consisting of: a medication order, a procedure order, a lab order, a diagnostic test order, an appointment order, a referral order, and a consultation order.

7. The host device of claim 6, wherein the identified at least one impediment includes one or more conflicts including at least one conflict between the orderable item and information identified in the free-form speech instruction and/or patient information obtained from an electronic medical record associated with the patient, and wherein providing the at least one query comprises providing an alert to the medical professional regarding the at least one conflict using the dialog component.

11. The host device of claim 10, wherein the first free-form speech instruction comprises a request from the medical professional to view patient information for a patient, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to infer the at least sonic information from the patient information received responsive to the free-form speech instruction and/or from an electronic medical record associated with the patient identified in the free-form speech instruction.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the recognized free-form speech instruction is processed by the natural language understanding component to identify information expressed in the free-form speech input indicating an intent to perform the at least one medical task.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to obtain an identification of at least one impediment to performing the at least one medical task, and wherein the at least one query is provided to the medical professional using the dialog component to facilitate overcoming the at least one impediment.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the natural language understanding component includes at least one knowledge representation model that captures medical domain semantic knowledge.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the free-form speech instruction is a second free-form speech instruction, and the at least some information inferred is from a first free-form speech instruction received before the second free-from speech instruction, information obtained responsive to the first free-form speech instruction, an electronic medical record associated with a patient, and/or the medical information resource accessible over the network.